It would, of course, be silly to draw conclusions from a single, gentle preseason friendly, disputed by two teams a little short of full strength, and which inevitably turned into a parade of second-half substitutions. Even so, Barcelona's 3-0 win Wednesday over Boca Juniors provides more evidence toward a clear conclusion: how rich South American football is, and how poor the continent's club game has become.

Boca Juniors were not disgraced -- and yet they could have lost by a much wider margin....